New draft season, new team names

Cheetahs guard Felix Sparks takes a shot over the top of Jaguars’ Cody Tarei as teammate Paora Tuapawa and Jaguars’ Paora Dewes watch and wait for a potential rebound.GBA picture

Fangs and claws are being sharpened for Round 2 of the second Gisborne Basketball Association Draft League.

The inaugural competition was a huge hit last year and in with new team names, inspired by big cats.

This weekend's action at the Gisborne YMCA will see the Lions take on the Jaguars at 5.30pm tonight, the Cheetahs against the Tigers to follow at 6.30pm. The league semifinals will run at 5.30pm (1 v 4) and 6.30pm (2 v 3) tomorrow evening.

In Round 1 last Saturday, the Jaguars beat the Cheetahs 71-63 thanks largely to Cody Tarei, who scored 28 points.

His teammates Ngaru Grayson (16) and Paora Dewes (11) also hit the ground running, while for the Cheetahs Felix Sparks (14), Carl Riini (12) and Thomas Kepa (10) fought to keep the game close to the end of the third quarter.

The Frank Russell-coached Jaguars led Quentin Solomon's Cheetahs 14-13, 32-27, 52-47 throughout.

In Game 2, the Tigers under former national champion Justine Pivac-Solomon (Wellington, 2005) beat the Lions coached by  Adrian Sparks 78-69. Dom Wilson led the Tigers scorers with 23; Scott Muncaster of the Lions went two better with 25.

Wilson, backed up by powerful forward Adam Harford (17), Nuku Taylor (10) and Kiwa Ria (10), attacked the hoop with aplomb.

The teams were evenly matched for skill and size at the guard spots, Braedyn Smith (16) and Ziya Swann (11) taking to the high tempo of play like ducks to water.

The Lions led 20-19 early on and 41-36 up at halftime before the Tigers seized control, taking a 61-51 advantage into the fourth period.

Pivac-Solomon, whose father was a founding member of the Exchequer Saints, is a tremendous addition to the GBA's development programme: "I said yes to the GBA committee through Adrian Sparks' request that I coach a Draft League team because he's a good guy who loves and has energy for basketball, and who gives a lot of his time and skills to kids in the community. Quentin (Solomon, Justine's husband) and I want to support him in that. I've been super-impressed by the GBA team, how organised, positive and proactive they are in growing the game.

“But we need at least a three-court gym here. There's a lot of talent and I can see pathways for those young players — such as I had access to, coming through — but the facilities need to be there."

The Draft League concept, which sees players who register placed in balanced competitive teams under a coach with a strong basketball background, takes newbies and old hands alike out of their comfort zone.

In the second round last Sunday, Solomon's Cheetahs picked up their first win of the league, 77-63 against the Lions. The Cheetahs' offence went into overdrive, with Kepa and Israel Kerisome both scoring 19 points and Sparks 13.

Braedyn Smith (16) and Scott Muncaster (15) fought hard for the Lions, but they couldn't maintain the 20-12 advantage they had at quartertime. The Cheetahs had crept ahead 34-29 by the split, and gone 51-43 up by the end of the third period.

Cody Tarei and Ngaru Grayson have committed themselves to the Jaguars' cause.

Those two athletic, strong young players once more came up trumps with 19 and 18 points in a 61-59 win that also drew the best out of Tigers Wilson and Harford.

Wilson led all scorers in R2 with 23 points, Harford scored one point more than he had against the Lions, with 18.

He and Wilson are not genuine veterans in the Old Surfers class, but they are now members of a more mature set.

Despite that, the Tigers held the upper hand 15-11 at the end of the first period and 26-20 at the break, but by three-quartertime the Jaguars had gone 44-42 ahead.